In Sudan problems of establishing national unity have been particularly acute; with a considerable proportion of the post-independence period spent in civil war between the North – which is predominantly Arab and Islam – and the South. Cultural differences have assumed political salience because – as in many other instances – they have coincided with differing economic experience. From the early colonial period the South was differently treated from the North, being designated as a closed area. If ostensibly to ‘protect’ the indigenous population from external intrusion, this also served to retard its developmental progress relative to that of the North. Over time, regional disadvantage was to be coupled with political under-representation and the stage set for cleavage which has, at times, erupted into violent conflict. In the last few years, murmurings of discontent and threatened mutiny have again occurred. And the peoples of Sudan have had to confront more emphatically the issue which has never been far from the top of the list of national priorities: the very fact of nationhood itself and the integration of peoples in such a way that all regions gain an equitable share in development. Below are three items dealing with the question of the South. The first is drawn from an address given by Joseph Garang in 1970. A prominent member of the Sudan Communist Party, Garang was appointed Minister of Southern Affairs following the establishment of the Leftist regime of 1969 and was instrumental in the formulation of the 9th of June (1969) Declaration which supported the need for regional autonomy in the South. His speech, part of which is reproduced below, treats the South within the broader context of the national question and has an enduring theoretical relevance not just for Sudan but for the African continent as a whole. Garang was executed in 1971 along with many other members of the CPS when the regime took a right turn. The second item, a statement of the Student Union of Southern Sudanese in the UK and Ireland addressed to the President of Sudan and released in April 1983, makes an embittered plea that the problem of the South be effectively confronted by the government. While assessing the situation as grounded in differential rates of development, the view put forward remains, by its very nature, couched in the language of regionalism rather than that of solidarity among all those disadvantaged under the current regime. Finally, the third item is a general review of the problem of the South, tracing its historical background, examining the aftermath of the Addis Accord of 1972 which brought an end to the civil war, and evaluating prospects for the future. The piece refers us to the continuity of principles embodied in the position of the Left – and particularly of the CPS – on the South over the years. (The Court Statement of El Tigani El Tayyib Babikir, elsewhere in this issue, gives further detals concerning this point). Written by a Sudanise Leftist, the account ultimately affirms that the problem of the South can be solved only in the context of a programme giving full rights of democratic participation to the whole of the population and priority to the development of those areas ‘left behind’. Excerpts from an address by Joseph U. Garang, the then Minister of State for Southern Affairs of the Sudan Government, in 1970 and originally printed as No.6 of the series Revolution in Action, by the Public Relations Bureau, Ministry for Southern Affairs.